PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma seems to have come to terms with Cosatu's decision to launch a corruption watch that will expose corrupt activities both in government and the private sector.

In his state of the nation address on Thursday, Zuma acknowledged Cosatu's initiative, but the labour federation later accused him of failing to appreciate the depth of corruption.

Zuma said: "We welcome the launch of Corruption Watch by Cosatu as well as the recent agreement between government and business to implement anti-corruption programmes.

"These interventions will complement the work of government in combating corruption," Zuma said.

Cosatu said Zuma failed to demonstrate the depth and extent of the crisis of corruption in his address.

"If corruption is not rooted out it could jeopardise programmes to develop infrastructure. With no steps announced to build the dysfunctional state apparatus, the benefits once again will only reach an already wealthy minority," Cosatu said.

Corruption Watch will collect and investigate leads on corruption, and pass the details on to law-enforcement agencies.